The 10 Deadliest Earthquakes in U.S. History

A major earthquake somewhere in California is virtually a certainty in the next 30 years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Some of the most hazardous regions of the state are also the most populated, including Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. A major quake in one of these areas is guaranteed to be a disaster that will take many lives.

The United States has already had several deadly earthquakes. Over the past 140 years, major quakes have struck Alaska, Hawaii, California and even South Carolina and killed at least 60, but in some cases hundreds of people. The country's most famous earthquake killed 3,000 or more people in San Francisco in 1906. But geologists estimate the next big one to hit the Bay Area would surely make this list of the 10 deadliest in the country's history.

Left: The 1906 San Francisco earthquake measured a magnitude 7.9 and ruptured 300 miles of the San Andreas Fault, which slipped as much as 20 feet in some places. Historians estimate that more than 3,000 people died in the quake and the ensuing fire, making it the deadliest earthquake in U.S. history. This photo, taken several months after the earthquake, shows the devastation, including the ruins of City Hall.

Photo: Theodore Kytka

In 1946, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake on Unimak Island in Alaska triggered a tsunami that killed 159 people in Hawaii, five in Alaska and one in California. In this photo, a man (see arrow) is about to be killed by the wave in Hilo, Hawaii.

Photo: Corbis

The second-largest earthquake ever recorded was a magnitude 9.2 in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1964. That quake caused the ground to shift vertically by as much as 50 feet in places. A 130-acre landslide demolished 75 homes. The resulting tsunami reached heights of 220 feet in places. In all, 128 people lost their lives, most killed by the tsunami, including 11 people in Crescent City, California.

Photo courtesy U.S. Geological Survey

This road in Long Beach, California, was damaged by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in 1933. Despite its lower magnitude, the quake killed 115 people and seriously damaged structures made of unreinforced masonry from Los Angeles to Laguna Beach, California. The damage to schools in the area prompted a mandate for better construction. Lessons from the quake were incorporated into the state's building code in the following years.

Photo: W.W. Bradley

In 1868, a massive, sudden movement of the south flank of Hawaii's Big Island caused a magnitude 7.9 earthquake that triggered a tsunami and landslides that killed 77 people. All major earthquakes in Hawaii are related to the volcanoes there. In this case, the magma pushing up from below the earth's crust forced the side of the island to expand, sliding along the ocean crust and causing a major earthquake.

Photo: Courtesy Hawaiian Historical Society

Though the 1971 San Fernando quake was a relatively moderate magnitude 6.6 and was centered in a sparsely populated, mountainous area outside of town, 65 people died and 2,000 were injured. Some of the most spectacular damage occurred at Olive View Hospital in Sylmar, California, pictured here, where 49 people died despite newly built, supposedly earthquake-resistant construction.

Photo courtesy U.S. Geological Survey

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was the largest to strike the San Francisco Bay Area since the 1906 quake. The magnitude 6.9 quake was centered in the Santa Cruz mountains, 60 miles south of San Francisco and Oakland, but still managed to damage $6 billion worth of property and kill 63 people, most of them on a collapsed highway in Oakland. A car is shown crushed by houses in San Francisco.

Photo: J.K. Nakata/U.S. Geological Survey

The magnitude 9.4 Valdivia, Chile, earthquake in 1960 is the largest ever recorded. It killed around 1,600 people and left 2 million homeless in southern Chile. Even quality wooden homes, shown here, were destroyed. The resulting tsunami killed 138 people in Japan and 61 people in Hawaii, making it one of the deadliest quakes in U.S. history despite happening on another continent.

Photo: Pierre St. Amand

The 1994 magnitude 6.7 earthquake that rocked Northridge in Southern California exposed major weaknesses in the building codes. Many of the 60 people who died lost their lives because buildings had weak lower stories, such as parking garages under apartment buildings. The Northridge quake caused $20 billion in damage.

In 1886, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded in the eastern United States struck Charleston, South Carolina, killing 60 people. Almost no buildings in the city were left undamaged. More than 100 years later, the cause of this quake is still not well understood. A damaged brick house and street in Charleston are shown here.

Photo courtesy U.S. Geological Survey

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